Aspiring Conversations launched as annual festival of ideas

We are very pleased to announce that Aspiring
Conversations, the hugely popular literary, philosophical
and political debate sessions, will become an annual
festival of ideas from this year. It is the first time that
Aspiring Conversations has been held separately from the
main Festival of Colour.

The inaugural event takes
place in Wanaka and Queenstown from Friday 10th to Sunday
12th October. It will feature a number of national and
international thinkers tackling such themes as the impacts
of changing technology on society and the economy, issues of
inequality and the growing strength of China. Leading New
Zealand writers will explore the insights and power of our
literary world.

We welcome global management
consulting firm, McKinsey & Company Inc. as gold sponsor.
David Pralong, partner at the firm, said he is delighted to
be part of Aspiring Conversations. “We will host
international executives in parallel to the festival. We
could not hope for a better setting than the Southern Lakes
to stimulate minds and step back to think about global
issues,” he said.

The Festival of Colour’s key
funding partners Central Lakes Trust, Otago Community Trust,
Creative New Zealand and Queenstown Lakes District Council
have all extended their support to the new annual format for
Aspiring Conversations. As well as sponsors Milford Asset
Management, Mt Difficulty winery, Quartz Reef, local book
retailer Wanaka Paper Plus, The Rees in Queenstown, Lakeside
Apartments and Radio Wanaka.

Hetty Van Hale, Chair
of the Southern Lakes Arts Festival Trust said the launch
was in line with the board’s desire to grow and diversify
the event. “This is a truly exciting development and a
great addition to the region’s event calendar. We know
there’s an audience hungry for this type of festival
because our surveys highlight the enduring popularity of the
Aspiring Conversations programme. Seymour Hersh, Nicky
Hager, Lloyd Geering and others were huge hits last year and
we’ll keep on bringing fascinating speakers to the region
to entertain, inspire and provoke debate,” she said.

Hetty confirmed that Aspiring Conversations would
continue to form part of the main festival programme every
two years. “Bringing Aspiring Conversations to the
Southern Lakes every year will allow us to keep the
wonderful Festival of Colour spirit alive in between the
full programme,” she said.

We will announce some
of the speakers over the coming weeks, and the full
programme for Aspiring Conversations 2014 will be unveiled
on 26 August with tickets available shortly
after.

Functions for supporters of the festival were held
this week encouraging existing Patrons and Benefactors to
increase their support to a new Patron Plus and Benefactor
Plus option. For further information on private giving or
sponsorship options please contact General Manager Lindsey
Schofield on info@festivalofcolour.co.nz

In
addition to the stand-alone sessions in October this year,
Aspiring Conversations will also form part of the programme
for the next Southern Lakes Festival of Colour taking place
from 21-26 April 2015. For further information visit http://www.aspiringconversations.co.nz/or follow the two festivals on their
respective Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.

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